FOXBOROUGH -- It seems whenever Bill Belichick gets a chance, he lets it be known how much he does not like analytics.
That happened again at his Friday press conference when he snuck it into an answer when asked about older players, like Bills running back Frank Gore, still contributing despite being up there in age.
"I think each generation has players like that," he said. "I don't know if there's any set formula or model for what it is today or what it was some other year. I'm sure you could go to some analytics person and they'd be able to give you a great numerical answer on that. I don't know. For me, it's just trying to evaluate where players are physically, mentally, emotionally in terms of playing football in their career and that's really what I can go on. Certainly there's some other components but, in the end, those are the main things."
This prompted a follow-up of how he really feels about analytics.
"It works for some people and that's great," Belichick said.
Later on in the press conference, Belichick was asked how much analytics factor into going for it on fourth down, or going for a two-point conversion instead of kicking an extra point?
"Less than zero," he deadpanned.
Belichick added: "I'm not saying it's a gut thing. It's an individual analysis based on the things that are pertinent to that game and that situation. I don't really care what happened in 1973 and what those teams did or didn't do, I don't really think that matters in this game – or '83 or '90, you know, pick out whatever year you want. It's not really my thing.
"And I like math, too, by the way. I really do. I like math."
It is somewhat interesting because the organization does use analytics as there are analyics people within the organization.
